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Help with this Norwegian sentence? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| w.shipley Groupie United States Joined 5676 days ago 42 posts - 43 votes Speaks: English* | Message 1 of 14 30 June 2009 at 7:12am | IP Logged | ||
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So, this is the sentence I'm having trouble with:
Skal du på norsk-kurs i kveld? A word-by-word translation is, I believe, this: Shall you on/at Norwegian class this evening? Am I misunderstand something? Could someone please explain what's going on here? The book, Teach Yourself Norwegian, doesn't clarify. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fanatic Octoglot Senior Member Australia speedmathematics.com Joined 7146 days ago 1152 posts - 1818 votes  Speaks: English*, German, French, Afrikaans, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch Studies: Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Modern Hebrew, Malay, Mandarin, Esperanto | Message 2 of 14 30 June 2009 at 9:28am | IP Logged | ||
I would translate it as, Are you going to the Norwegian class this evening? That can be a problem with Teach Yourself language books. They don't give translations to all the dialogues. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Calvino Diglot Groupie Sweden sammafllod.wordpress Joined 5966 days ago 65 posts - 66 votes 2 sounds Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: French, Spanish, German | Message 3 of 14 30 June 2009 at 10:06am | IP Logged | ||
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fanatic's got it right. The trick lies in the use of the verb "skal" analogously with English "going to", i.e., at the same time as tense-marker and movement-verb. While not normally used to express movement towards, "skal" might be used in this manner when the movement in question takes place in the future.
Some examples (using Swedish) Jag går på norskkurs - I am (presently) going to Norwegian class Jag skall gå på norskkurs - I will(/shall) go to Norwegian class Jag skall på norskkurs - I'm going to Norwegian class (in the future). Edited by Calvino on 30 June 2009 at 10:13am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sprachbund Octoglot Newbie Denmark Joined 5632 days ago 15 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English*, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, German, Spanish, French, Dutch Studies: Italian, Latin, Arabic (classical), Russian | Message 4 of 14 30 June 2009 at 8:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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This is part of the beauty with learning languages, they never divide up reality in exactly the way your native language does: The construction with Norwegian and Danish skal, Swedish ska (or more formally) skall, is indeed a motion verb, but it has some interesting properties that motion verbs in other languages that I know of don't have. Examples in informal Swedish:
It's a general motion verb and implies no direction: "Du skall hem nu" - you need to go home now (can be said to somebody in the sense "leave us and go home", or "come home now") It implies no particular mode of motion: "vi ska alltså iväg nu" - we really need to get going now, can be said as a generic replacement for sentences with "gå" (walk), "köra" (drive), "springa" (run) or whatever Contrary to those specific motion verbs it only goes with prepositions, or with adverbs implying direction. With many of these, there are idiomatic expressions: jag ska av nu (I need to get off [the bus] now), du ska med oss (you're coming with us), and as in the previous posts, "jag ska på kurs" It implies intention, you can't replace a motion verb like "ramla ner" (fall) with ska, but you can replace "hoppa ner" (jump off) with ska And the general motion ska works in various finite tenses, but not in infinitive or imperative constructions. You can say "kom hem!" (come home), but certainly not "ska hem!" Edited by Sprachbund on 01 July 2009 at 5:33am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| w.shipley Groupie United States Joined 5676 days ago 42 posts - 43 votes Speaks: English* | Message 5 of 14 30 June 2009 at 11:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thank you all so much! It makes sense now. =]
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| mrhenrik Triglot Moderator Norway Joined 6079 days ago 482 posts - 658 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, French Personal Language Map | Message 6 of 14 02 July 2009 at 7:18am | IP Logged | ||
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For what it's worth, I'll just confirm the first translation by fanatic as completely spot on.
The sentence literally translated means "Shall/will you at Norwegian class this evening?", but I believe "Skal du" is a contraction of the term "Skal du være med på" (Shall/will you attend) or "Skal du dra til" (are you going to), for instance. It's a normal sentence though, and translated to English it means "Are you going to the Norwegian class this evening?" 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5838 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 7 of 14 02 July 2009 at 9:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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A native speaker would say:
Will you be going to the Norwegian course this evening? Will you go to the Norwegian course tonight? Hope this helps. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| stelingo Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5832 days ago 722 posts - 1076 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Czech, Polish, Greek, Mandarin | Message 8 of 14 03 July 2009 at 12:14am | IP Logged | ||
Neither of these sentences would sound natural. Are you going to Norwegian tonight? (class or course being understood) would be the most natural way (in the UK at least) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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